Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

I believe this is the ultimate test of our understanding of who God is. He is the beginning and the end of all things. There is no higher court of appeal, there is no way to challenge this statement. Either you believe God or you don’t.

I am not setting out here to expound the Book of Revelation. You have an invitation to read and study it for yourself, using all the material that scholars have written and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. A special blessing is promised to all who will take up the challenge.

What I do want to do is bring this concept down to apply it to our everyday lives. Why do we try so hard to control every aspect of our lives, even though so much of our efforts end in frustration? Anyone who is a parent is doubly guilty because the “control tendency” extends to our children, and in this I am as guilty as can be. Wouldn’t it be far better if we could get to the place where we trust God completely with our future and the future of our children as well?

We interfere and manipulate because we say we do it out of love, and firmly believe it. The thing is I am finding out that my love is not enough. The Holy Spirit is convicting me almost daily to “give it up” and trust the One who knows the end from the beginning. The Almighty loves us and he loves our children and has ordained a different path for them than he has for us. The thing is, he has not shared the blueprint with us. Our job then, especially with respect to our grown children, is to simply lay out our hearts’ desires to God and trust him to bring to fruition what he sees as best for them.